Sustainable Travel Plan

Talbot Primary School is committed to promoting sustainable travel; therefore, we encourage pupils, parents and staff to travel to school by foot, scooter, bike or bus. This approach has many benefits: reduced congestion, making the roads around school safer, the health benefits of regular exercise and reduced pollution. Where car journeys are necessary, we encourage people to consider park and stride journeys or car shares.

Throughout the year, Talbot undertakes a range of activities to educate the pupils about sustainable travel and promote this lifestyle. In the past 12 months, initiatives have included:

an audit of the roads around school

assemblies on road safety

putting in new cycle and scooter storage

designing 20mph signs for the local area

participating in The Big Pedal

a visit from the Green Cross Code team

participating in Scoot the Route Week

making New Year’s Resolutions about how we can reduce congestion at the school gate

Year 1 cycle training (Balancability)

Year 2 and Year 3 scooter training (playground)

Year 4 scooter training (on the pavements)

Year 6 cycle training (Bikeability L1-L3)

Travel preferences are tracked to measure any shift over five years. The information is then sent to Mode Shifts, who are a monitoring, validating and accreditation team who evaluate sustainable travel for many local authorities. In July, Talbot Primary School was awarded the Mode Shifts: Bronze Award for the work we have done to date.

If you would like to be involved in this work, or have any ideas or expertise to share, please contact Jude Rivers (Deputy Headteacher) who is leading these initiatives.

In a bid to combat illegal and dangerous parking near to schools, the council has invested in a new parking enforcement vehicle. The vehicle utilises camera/video capacity to identify illegal, dangerous and inappropriate parking. Footage captured by the vehicle is verified by parking enforcement officers and where an offence has been committed fines will be issued.

With this in mind, if you have no other option than to drive, please park responsibly so that our school community is not put in danger. Preferably, we would ask you to park a little way away from the school gates. It is also helpful if you could switch off your engines while you are waiting, so they are not "idling," as this causes dangerous levels of pollution and affects negatively conditions such as asthma.